Here’s New York Newsday on big strides made by the Knicks this season:
If you have followed the Knicks any longer than the last two weeks, it’s not hard to consider what the organization accomplished this season as a rousing success. With new faces in the front office, with a proven coach in Tom Thibodeau and an assortment of low-cost additions, the Knicks shed decades of dysfunction and earned a playoff berth for the first time in eight years.
The Knicks jumped far above the expectations of anyone outside of their locker room, winning 41 games, earning the No. 4 seed and filling Madison Square Garden for three playoff games infused with hope and enthusiasm. It ended in disappointment, All that was dimmed by the abrupt ending, a five-game ousting at the hands of Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks, who talked and taunted and backed up every bit of it in humbling the Knicks.
“I think you learn from each experience,” Thibodeau said after it was over. “Atlanta really added some good pieces to complement Trae and I think that helped them. Every year, you analyzed the things you did well, the things you didn’t do as well as you’d like. You look at how you match up with the teams — you start with the division, then you look at the conference, then you look at the league. Then you see where you might have opportunities, whether it’s through the draft or free agency or trades, your own player development. All four areas factor into it.”
Although the Knicks quickly got sent home by the Hawks in the first round oif the playoffs, it was a better season than anyone predicted.
